White Papers                                                                                      TOP

The Tipping Point in Developmental Education (mheducation.com): This paper sets out to demonstrate that accelerated, technology-enabled and skills-based developmental education programmes designed specifically for underprepared students entering or returning to college can improve educational and other outcomes. Furthermore, getting ahead of the remedial curve as early as high school can have an even greater impact on college enrollment and successful completion.     Click here

Library Use of Web-based Research Guides (ejournals.bc.edu): This paper describes the ways in which libraries are currently implementing and managing webbased research guides (a.k.a. Pathfinders, LibGuides, Subject Guides, etc.) by examining two sets of data from the spring of 2011. One set of data was compiled by visiting the websites of ninety-nine American university ARL libraries and recording the characteristics of each site's research guides.     Click here

Open Access: Awareness and Attitudes amongst the Author Community (intechweb.org): This InTech white paper is based on a review of current research and a survey sent to 20,000 STM researchers worldwide. The survey attracted an overall response rate of 1.3 percent, with 275 participants taking part and 253 (92 percent) completing it. The majority of respondents were researchers (75 seventy) based at a university (70 seventy).     Click here

Making Good on the Promise of ERM: A Standards and Best Practices Discussion Paper (niso.org): This publication is the outcome of the NISO Electronic Resource Management (ERM) Data Standards and Best Practices Project, a successor to the Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resources Management Initiative (ERMI). The project's primary goals were to perform a "gap analysis" of standards and best practices and make recommendations on the future of the ERMI Data Dictionary.     Click here

STM eBooks: Librarian Perspectives on the First 5 years (springer.com): eBooks have evolved considerably over the last five years, beyond the more mature, but less dynamic eJournals space. They are now poised at an intersection of library, technology and research trends that afford great opportunities and challenges, for both the library and publisher communities.Similar to the formative years of STM eJournals adoption, eBook uptake shows both promise and challenges: promise as an efficient source for research, and challenges as stakeholders grasp how best to manage this relatively new content format. In their sixth year, eBooks are entering an Age of Experimentation. Stakeholders must learn how to flourish despite the dizzying pace of the technologies that support the eBook format.     Click here